madread8's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Terminal illness, Sexual content, and Cancer
ameliaszosz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Moderate: Abandonment, Cancer, Grief, Violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
kenzie_roonie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Cancer, Terminal illness, Misogyny, and Toxic relationship
balfies's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A story of how passion and love consumes the flesh and becomes the flesh, this treaty on fluid and gender is lyrical and deep and sinewy. Gorgeous writing, gripping use of language, timeless psychosexual landscape.
Graphic: Infidelity, Violence, Sexual content, Death, Cancer, and Terminal illness
sonmel2910's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Cancer, and Toxic relationship
scarylavender's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Moderate: Cancer
bekahmccue's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Vomit and Cancer
sunbeam_reader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25
• Dislikes: The plot of the book and the ending really fell flat for me. Things just ended out of the blue with seemingly no explanation and sometimes that's ok but because this story is about a romance having and ending like that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I also feel like even though the beginning really caught me the rest of the book failed to keep my attention (I actually ended skimming some sections towards the end).
• REP: The lead character is bisexual and all the characters that are named are white as far as I know. One thing that struck me as a possible issue is that the villain of the story is a Jewish man. I am not Jewish so I cannot say that the depiction of him was anti-Semitic, however, the trope of the Jewish or Jewish coded villain is so common I felt it needed to be mentioned. I highly recommend trying to seek out reviews for this book by Jewish readers to find out more.
• Final Thoughts: I really just think this book was not for me. I wouldn't discourage people from reading it but it may not be your cup of tea. However, Winterson's writing is beautiful and I own another book of hers that I got for a class at Uni so I might give her another shot and see how I feel.
Moderate: Antisemitism, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship
annaonthepage's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Cancer and Death
dxisymitch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
However, I did find the book somewhat enjoyable and I found the unique storytelling and structure to be very interesting. I also felt like the narrator does, in some ways, redeem themselves and grows from some of the things that bothered me about them in the beginning.
Graphic: Cancer and Medical content
Moderate: Death and Infidelity
Minor: Miscarriage and Misogyny